Hello My Dear Gardening Friends,

It is bright with blue cloudless skies, but it is still too cold for the snowdrops. Keep looking it will not be long before they emerge shaking their little white “heads”.

My beloved granddaughter is off on her big adventure. On Monday Kristin is leaving for Oman - how I envy her. I well remember the fear, excitement, some sadness and a whole lot of doubt about a new life in Canada. I got off the boat in Montreal and I can still see my ex-husband standing on the dock waiting for me – I was home and have been ever since I fell in love with Montreal and Canada. What adventures were waiting for me as I know they are waiting for Kristin. So my darling be brave. Whilst you will miss your mother and sister, you are about to discover there is a whole new and different world out there. “Seize the day” and the chances. Above all, enjoy and work hard at your studies!!! That is the grandmother in me speaking – a little Jewish guilt never hurt!!!

What are the chores for March?

- Start your tomatoes indoors (late March to early April)
- Order any summer flowering bulbs that are still on your “to do list”
- Cut down those ornamental grasses – I know that they are still decorative but soon new ones will replace the old
- Prune your summer flowering shrubs
- Plant your flower and veggie seeds indoors
- Prune fruit trees and grape vines
- Start your summer flowers and tender perennials – especially your cannas caladiums and elephant ears
- Apply dormant oil spray before the buds open during non-freezing temperatures
- Loosen packed mulch and press any frost heaved perennials but oh so very gently
- Check and repair any garden tools, yes it is time to get the lawn mower checked and sharpened - Cut some spring flowering branches to force indoors
- Clean out your clothes closets

"In everything governed by Nature, never is there an element of hurriedness"
By: Lamark

How very simple it all seemed! I was convinced that I could live on love alone, as they say. The sun was my friend, the wind my confidant, my poet, and the water I drank was for me a source of calm and well being. Yet, deep inside, I sensed that life brings to each of us stormy and empty passages. Still I was certain that in difficulty I could also find growth as long as I refused to dwell on my misfortune. I resolved to find strength in my moments of anger, discouragement, doubt and conflict. I pledged not to let negative circumstances control my life (so, as I cannot find a nice man to come and dig my garden – I had better just “get on with it”).

Then, one day, the ultimate event occurred in my life. Although my dreams played a major role until the very end, nevertheless, I felt that major changes had taken place within me; I am referring mainly to changes that were physical, increasingly significant and increasingly rapid.

Such is life. Nothing is immutable: everything changes, everything evolves. The fledgling grows and leaves the nest, the green leaf emerges from its bud, and the butterfly eagerly escapes from its cocoon and flies happily away. And so, in my turn, I entered into the eternal dance of life. And believe it or not, I became my own dreams. I found a new existence. I found fulfilment, yet I sensed no need to hurry, I reached my higher limits in grace and beauty, proudly but with no vanity, strongly but with no violence, intent on serving as a model but in no way desirous of creating envy in others. I became Royal, I became a Flower, I became a ROSE

So my dears – I hope that this will spur you on to your gardening – do not be afraid to change the way it is, you have all summer to do so and in doing so become Roses.

I read this wonderful tip to deter Deer:

If you have problems with deer dining on your prize veggies and flowers, try this trick. Buy a motion detector and hook it up near your garden beds, but instead of a light bulb, screw in a plug outlet from the hardware store (you will need a very long extension cord? Oops - they meant to purchase it there not use it as the plug in!!!). Plug in an old radio (St. Vincent de Paul is a good source). Wrap the radio in a plastic garbage bag to prevent it from moisture. When the deer show up for supper, they will trigger the motion sensor and the radio will turn on; scares the deer and your plants will be safe (sounds as though it would work better than leaving it on all the time; even deer get used to the noise and dismiss it – I understand that they hate rap music). This is a good time to burn any garden “stuff” that has been hanging around. Be sure that it is in a safe place, but with all the snow, it is not likely to “run” on to your neighbours yard! Collect it into piles and set it alight but check it carefully first – One year we piled everything up in the fall and left it. Jack went down to light it in the spring and came back laughing – a wood duck had taken up residence in the pile and had several little chicks in a nest!!! No fire that spring. It is a good way to get rid of diseased growth that hopefully has not been put into the compost.

Since Peterborough is on the way to banning pesticides, let’s think about an alternative to all that grass. Did you really enjoy mowing in the hot sunshine, when with a little work you can have an English style cottage garden?

Let’s begin by checking what it is you are going to be dealing with. Look at the permanent structures and plant material that you already own. If you have a shed and areas for your compost and garden tools, instead of trying to hide them, put plantings in front of them – climbing vines, trellises, even window boxes will make them look attractive.

You can soften hard surfaces and edges by placing different sized containers around them. These can be filled with colourful annuals, bulbs, herbs and vegetables. Add a rustic bench or two. It is hard work filling compost piles – a seat is always appreciated. When you are planting in areas where you have mature trees (lucky you), be careful to choose plants that will enjoy dry, shady, nutrient poor conditions. Deciduous trees may be pruned or “limbed –up” – that is the lower branches may be removed to increase the light levels and air circulation around the base of the trees.

Plan the Paths:

Next map out (in your head at least), where the paths are going to be placed, and what they are going to be made of. Remember that they should be wide enough for a wheelbarrow to pass easily. They should also be placed where it will be easy to weed and look after the garden in general. You may wish to keep a patch or two of grass, place the paths in areas that will give you the best view of the garden. This is a good time to think about where vertical structures, trellises, arbours, arches, etc. will add the most impact. If you place these structures in a sunny position rather than a shady spot it will give you a wider range of plant materials to choose from. If you are thinking of adding a birdbath, sundial, a naked woman to enhance these upright structures, remember the word is “keep it simple”.

Many North Americans think that their post-war homes are unsuitable to add a cottage garden (not British enough). Again, work with what you have; a climbing Japanese hydrangea-vine (Schizophragma hydrangeoides) or something simpler such as a Boston ivy, will gradually hide your house so that it will soon be no more than windows, doors and a roof. In fact, once your cottage garden is established no one will look at your house. Visually the primary function of your residence is to “ground” the garden, emphasising the property as a whole.

Design:

Most gardeners will want to take certain considerations into account: plant height, flowering sequences, leaf texture and colour combinations. Plants with distinctive characteristics will need careful placement. For instance, you do not want to put a vermilion coloured plant next to a pink one. Although a well constructed cottage garden needs little care once established, some regular work will be needed, especially during the first three years before the plants really fill in. Weeding will still be a chore; some self seeding plants will need thinning out or deadheading to keep them under control and I am afraid that delphiniums will need some staking. Again go slowly, and if you don’t get around to staking plants and they fall over, cut them and enjoy the blooms in the house. A totally floppy look is usually not attractive – aim instead for a casual blowsy look, don’t become obsessed with a totally tidy garden. The main idea is to decrease the work, so that you can relax and enjoy it.

Cut a few flowers, gather some herbs, harvest a few vegetables, and try out some new recipes. Take time to sniff the flowers and take photographs; incidentally this is a good idea as you can see how your garden is growing and how far you still want to go.

Above all be good to your soil, and remember you are not the only one who has ever used or will ever use it Treat it as the living organism it is, respect it, nurture it and feed it. Hand in hand with healthy soil you can maintain the old cottage garden style on your own property, then pass it on to the next generation as so many cottage gardeners have done in the past. It is one of the richest legacies and it is imploring you to become part of it.

No matter what you decided your garden is going to look like, whatever theme you choose, the first step will always be go outside and just start.

Got weeds in your garden? Use your Goat. At least that is what the Oregon Department of Transportation did to counteract noxious weeds along Interstate 84, according to the National Gardening magazine. They collected a herd of 100 goats and a dog, all for the relatively paltry cost of $500, far less than the traditional herbicide application. They got the goats to clear 2 ½ acres of Russian knapweed, whitetop, and perennial pepperweed. Laguna Beach, California did the same thing to clear brush from canyon roads before the start of the fire season. Lakefield did the same thing many years ago – they short tethered two goats on the park in front of the I.G.A. Not only did the goats eat the weeds, but the poison ivy too - I wonder do we need a permit to use goats as weed dispatchers??

“Bankes newly quicksetted, some weeding do crave, the kindlier nourishment thereby to have. Than after a shower to weeding a snatch, more easily weede with the roote to dispatch.” Thomas Tusser from Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry (1580)

Note: Not spelling errors – merely olde English!

It would be nice if some of the owners who have baskets outside their stores would water them for us – sigh if “wishes were horses”. We do have the parks department watering, but in very hot weather sometimes once a day is not enough. Some of our members passing by hook up a hose and water them themselves. After all the hard work of planting, weeding, etc. they are not about to let the plants die for lack of water. I will mention this again when the baskets are up and the sun is hot.

I was at home on Friday evening when around 10 p.m. the phone rang – am I willing to go back to work at Loblaws? Sooooo as of May 5th I will be back in the garden centre. As I look out at the freezing rain I am telling myself less than two months and all this will be behind us. I hope that Mother Nature will be kinder this year. Last spring was oh so cold and so very wet – the centre closed because it was deep in water – remember the Peterborough flood?

“When Winter’s rage abates, when chearful Hours Awake the Spring, and Spring awakes the Flow’rs.”
-John Dryden Virgil’s Georgics I, II. 463-64 (1697)

“Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty. The Winter’s Tale”
William Shakespeare IV.4.11. 118-20 (c1610)

That is it for this week. Maybe next week we will cast a spell for kinder weather – the freezing rain has stopped and it is snowing once again, that nasty sleety snow. Oh well, winter in Canada.

Hats, snow shovels, warm gloves and boots, hats, sunscreen and a big smile.
Lovingly, Beryl